maplewashing
maplewashing noun: the tendency for Canada and its history, culture, and politics to be idealized or sanitized, especially in relation to its neighbour the United States.
Noun
maplewashing (uncountable)
- The tendency for Canada and its history, culture, and politics to be idealized or sanitized, especially in relation to its neighbour the United States.
- Luke Savage is a Toronto writer and producer with the Broadbent Institute. He says "maple washing" needs to end.2016 September 7, Melissa Mohr, “Maple washing: don't be smug about Canada during the U.S^([sic]) election”, in CBC News
- The 2016 election provided an especially becoming foil for Canada, whose history of "maple-washing"–sweeping unsavory aspects of its history and culture, like settler colonialism and genocide against Indigenous peoples, under the rug–was widespread even before such a handy distraction.2022, Tajja Isen, Some of My Best Friends: And Other White Lies I've Been Told, unnumbered page
Forms of maplewashing
| alternative form | maple-washing |
|---|---|
| alternative form | maple washing |
Origin of maplewashing
From maple + -wash + -ing, after the model of greenwashing etc. Reportedly coined by writer Luke Savage in 2016.
Questions about maplewashing
- What does maplewashing mean?
- Maplewashing means the tendency for Canada and its history, culture, and politics to be idealized or sanitized, especially in relation to its neighbour the United States.
- What part of speech is maplewashing?
- Maplewashing is a noun.
Words near maplewashing in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: maplewashing (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “maplewashing.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/maplewashing. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.